But after years of failed infertility treatments and adoptions that have fallen through, it seems like motherhood is not in her future. That is, until her personal assistant Monica makes a generous offer that will make all of Abby's dreams come true.
Or all of her nightmares.
Because it turns out Monica isn't who she says she is. The woman now carrying Abby's child has dark, twisted secrets.
And she will stop at nothing to get what she wants.
One thing I have to give this author credit for is that she is amazing at writing the stupidest characters I have ever encountered. The women in particular seem to have a special talent for making the most baffling choices possible and somehow ending up in the absolute worst situations, usually because they have, in one way or another, managed to put themselves there in the first place.
And this book was no exception.
I understand that Abby desperately wanted a baby. I really do. But you know that old saying, "If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is?" Yeah. Abby probably should have paid attention to that. Not only does her husband tell her that having her assistant serve as their surrogate is a terrible idea, but her own mother does too. And yet Abby, being Abby, decides that everyone else's concerns are irrelevant because she wants what she wants. Of course, things start going sideways almost immediately. The agreement was that Monica would leave the company before she started showing signs of pregnancy. But once Monica is pregnant and clearly not holding up her end of the deal, what does Abby do? Does she sit her down and have a serious conversation about that little thing called a breach of contract? Nope.
She just goes along with it. Because Monica is pregnant with Sam's baby. And let me tell you, the author really wanted to make sure we didn't forget that little detail. We are told over and over and over again that Monica is "pregnant with" Sam's baby or "carrying his child." So much so that I eventually started making a game out of it. Freida, we get it. Monica is knocked up. You don't need to remind me every three pages. And being pregnant with Sam's baby doesn't magically excuse Monica's behavior anyway.
Sam, of course, isn't much better. Despite having known and been married to Abby considerably longer than he's known Monica, he repeatedly takes Monica's side. And when Abby confronts him about seeing Monica behind her back, the way he attempts to gaslight her was absolutely infuriating. And honestly? I don't care how many times he insists that nothing happened between them. I don't believe him. Not for one second.
The overall story also frequently crossed the line from "thriller" into "okay, come on now." Even the twists had me rolling my eyes. Is she your roommate or isn't she? Is she your mother or isn't she? What do you mean you went through all of this for a reason that makes absolutely no sense? When I pick up a thriller, I want to question what I'm reading. I want to wonder which characters I can trust and try to figure out what's actually happening. What I don't want is for the answers to be so painfully obvious that they're practically waving at me from across the room.
Take Abby's supposed drug use, for example. Why was everyone who had known this woman for years so willing to believe that she'd suddenly developed a meth habit? And apparently she was financing this supposed addiction for free because there weren't even suspicious withdrawals (including cash withdrawals) from the account she shared with her husband. There was also another twist that I knew was coming, partly because the author basically spoiled it in the prologue, but also because something so ridiculously obvious happened early on that I immediately knew it was going to become important later. And wouldn't you know it? I was right.
Speaking of the prologue, I've apparently discovered another thing this author likes to do: reveal a major plot point at the beginning of the book and then repeat the exact same information later when it's actually supposed to be revealed. Why?
Seriously, why?
If you're going to reveal something as a big twist, why not just...wait until the appropriate moment to reveal it? Not only would that make the story more effective, but it would also prevent the reader from spending the entire book waiting for the thing you've already told us is going to happen. It's like the author is trying to surprise me while simultaneously handing me a map showing exactly where the surprise is buried.
At this point, I feel like I've learned two very important things from my attempts to read books involving surrogacy.
One, Apparently nobody can write a story about surrogacy without turning it into an absolutely ridiculous story that is so over the top its laughable instead of enjoyable. And two, despite giving this author chance after chance, I have yet to be impressed. Maybe someday she'll surprise me. Unfortunately, today wasn't that day.
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